Southlink industrial action

[loungeman76]

On the Adelaide Metro site there a news item regarding disruptions to Adelaide Hills services -- Tuesday 26th July 2022

"Passengers who access bus services to the Adelaide Hills are advised that some services on Tuesday 26th July 2022 are expected to be impacted by industrial action taken by some SouthLink drivers.

Adelaide Metro is working closely with SouthLink to ensure that any disruption to services will be minimised. Priority to be given to operating school bus routes."

It doesn't show what routes will be impacted as yet.

[Merc1107]

It doesn't show what routes will be impacted as yet.

Simple - you don't know who will be striking until the actual day (and while Management could ask who will be taking part, it may not be well-received by those taking part). Nor do you truly know how many staff will be available to cover trips either, particularly with COVID wreaking havoc with all employers at the moment.

[loungeman76]

It doesn't show what routes will be impacted as yet.

Simple - you don't know who will be striking until the actual day (and while Management could ask who will be taking part, it may not be well-received by those taking part). Nor do you truly know how many staff will be available to cover trips either, particularly with COVID wreaking havoc with all employers at the moment.

It certainly doesn't help those who don't have a car & rely on getting to & from work by bus.

[Lieselta]

Thats an issue with Adelaide as a whole regardless of industrial action. Think of all the outer suburban developments that don't get useful bus service, and early morning/night shift workers on weekends too.

[Lieselta]

AdeMet have updated the page to say there will be no services to the hills at all, while still saying they'll give priority to school bus services. I assume that means school buses will still run with the drivers that turn up.

EDIT: Doesn't say school services will be given priority anymore either so guess they're out too.

[TT]

My app (should I run) is showing a limited number of Hills services (both inbound and outbound) running this morning: real time with fleet numbers. Mainly 864F.

[Eurostar]

My app (should I run) is showing a limited number of Hills services (both inbound and outbound) running this morning: real time with fleet numbers. Mainly 864F.

Non Union Bus Drivers maybe

[Tim Williams]

Now. I understand that these numbers/percentages are correct, but my apologies if they are not.

My understanding is that 70% of Hills drivers are in the Union and that of those 70% only 33% bothered to vote, and from that vote 96% were in favour of the 24 hour strike. So, from those numbers you would conclude that only 22% of the total Hills drivers were actually in favour of this pointless strike - the other 67% of the drivers in the Union were either apathetic or disagreed with the strike.

Then how is it reasonable that less than a quarter of the employed Hills drivers can cause (one way or the other) this strike to take place and grossly inconvenience the travelling public.

My further understanding is that, despite misleading comments from the union secretary Ian Smith, the drivers are paid at the current correct rate, but they naturally require increased rates plus an improvement to their conditions, mainly split shifts and we all know that bus companies require split shifts due to AM and PM peaks and school services.

No doubt the TWU and the militant group of drivers believe that they stand a better chance of success with a State Labor Government in power.

[Lt. Commander Data]

Now. I understand that these numbers/percentages are correct, but my apologies if they are not.

My understanding is that 70% of Hills drivers are in the Union and that of those 70% only 33% bothered to vote, and from that vote 96% were in favour of the 24 hour strike. So, from those numbers you would conclude that only 22% of the total Hills drivers were actually in favour of this pointless strike - the other 67% of the drivers in the Union were either apathetic or disagreed with the strike.

Then how is it reasonable that less than a quarter of the employed Hills drivers can cause (one way or the other) this strike to take place and grossly inconvenience the travelling public.

My further understanding is that, despite misleading comments from the union secretary Ian Smith, the drivers are paid at the current correct rate, but they naturally require increased rates plus an improvement to their conditions, mainly split shifts and we all know that bus companies require split shifts due to AM and PM peaks and school services.

No doubt the TWU and the militant group of drivers believe that they stand a better chance of success with a State Labor Government in power.

Sorry Tim - that’s not correct. Somewhere around 80% of union members voted, 96% of those voted in favour.

Pay rates did drop below award levels for a fortnight until the Union notified the company of the error (which was then rectified with back payments).

There is no “militant group of drivers”. This same action could have happened no matter what government in power, as (unless I’m much mistaken), there have been no changes to the Fair Work Act in the last 5 months or so. Not to mention the dispute has been going on for nearly 18 months now!

I would be happy to discuss in more detail with you via PM, if you wish.

[Tim Williams]

Thanks, would be happy to talk via PM - I was going on what was broadcasted this morning, on ABC Radio - that is why I qualified the numbers!!

[Merc1107]

... naturally require increased rates plus an improvement to their conditions, mainly split shifts and we all know that bus companies require split shifts due to AM and PM peaks and school services.

This is worth touching on as it's a fairly multifaceted issue.

In my experience, drivers are generally not averse to working split shifts provided one of the following are met:

• They are adequately remunerated for the inconvenience of the work
• Every effort is made to minimise the number of split shifts, which translates into not having to work them for two or three weeks to "earn" a week of straights.

However, I have noticed there is generally reluctance to try different rostering and scheduling practices to keep the driving cohort happy, nor are the drivers forthcoming with solutions to workplace issues either. This immediately sets things off on the path to catastrophe. When you then add in a prevailing attitude that Hastus/Austrics/schedulers/roster clerks are somehow beacons of infallible truth, things unravel further.

To elaborate on that latter point - a few general examples, loosely based in reality:
A depot needs about half of its peak requirement covered by split shifts. Some have longer halves, some are shorter. To reduce the number of splits, it would not be completely unreasonable to marry a late-starting first half, with an early-commencing second half, thus creating a "day" shift. Alternatively, some longer day shifts could be shortened to try and free up some work to convert a split into a day shift.

The split sign-on provision in the EA has failed to adequately capture the unique peak times of a depot. This has resulted in the creation of a number of shorter shifts, which, across a five day week, would not make up 38hrs for a full-time position. The drivers are subsequently rostered to work a very long shift on the weekend (and work six days more often than not), with the penalty rate used to "top up" the 38hrs before paying the extra cash.
The ultimate solution would be to change the split shift provision in the EA to better reflect that depot's peak period. Alternatively, rosters with varying combinations of weekdays off could be used so drivers wanting to work Mon-Fri only would do so, and those happy for some combination of weekdays off would get those instead.

A shift is scheduled to operate several trips of a very problematic run (i.e. a severe incident occurs quite often) back-to-back. It has been alleged it is "impossible" to juggle the trips around with other shifts to share the problematic work around despite other buses arriving and departing at almost identical times. The next school term, a number of shifts have their trips shuffled around, for which the rationalise is not obvious, and drivers are left to struggle with the stress and potential trauma of working this problem shift.

Without knowing the inner-workings of Southlink, it's hard to say how consistent these examples might be with what drivers are facing. However I'd wager that the general theme - fairly typical workplace problems, with blatantly obvious solutions that are never implemented, may be behind the industrial action.

[Skexis]

I believe most hills drivers do not get much over 30 hours per week.

[loungeman76]

... naturally require increased rates plus an improvement to their conditions, mainly split shifts and we all know that bus companies require split shifts due to AM and PM peaks and school services.

This is worth touching on as it's a fairly multifaceted issue.

In my experience, drivers are generally not averse to working split shifts provided one of the following are met:

• They are adequately remunerated for the inconvenience of the work
• Every effort is made to minimise the number of split shifts, which translates into not having to work them for two or three weeks to "earn" a week of straights.

However, I have noticed there is generally reluctance to try different rostering and scheduling practices to keep the driving cohort happy, nor are the drivers forthcoming with solutions to workplace issues either. This immediately sets things off on the path to catastrophe. When you then add in a prevailing attitude that Hastus/Austrics/schedulers/roster clerks are somehow beacons of infallible truth, things unravel further.

To elaborate on that latter point - a few general examples, loosely based in reality:
A depot needs about half of its peak requirement covered by split shifts. Some have longer halves, some are shorter. To reduce the number of splits, it would not be completely unreasonable to marry a late-starting first half, with an early-commencing second half, thus creating a "day" shift. Alternatively, some longer day shifts could be shortened to try and free up some work to convert a split into a day shift.

The split sign-on provision in the EA has failed to adequately capture the unique peak times of a depot. This has resulted in the creation of a number of shorter shifts, which, across a five day week, would not make up 38hrs for a full-time position. The drivers are subsequently rostered to work a very long shift on the weekend (and work six days more often than not), with the penalty rate used to "top up" the 38hrs before paying the extra cash.
The ultimate solution would be to change the split shift provision in the EA to better reflect that depot's peak period. Alternatively, rosters with varying combinations of weekdays off could be used so drivers wanting to work Mon-Fri only would do so, and those happy for some combination of weekdays off would get those instead.

A shift is scheduled to operate several trips of a very problematic run (i.e. a severe incident occurs quite often) back-to-back. It has been alleged it is "impossible" to juggle the trips around with other shifts to share the problematic work around despite other buses arriving and departing at almost identical times. The next school term, a number of shifts have their trips shuffled around, for which the rationalise is not obvious, and drivers are left to struggle with the stress and potential trauma of working this problem shift.

Without knowing the inner-workings of Southlink, it's hard to say how consistent these examples might be with what drivers are facing. However I'd wager that the general theme - fairly typical workplace problems, with blatantly obvious solutions that are never implemented, may be behind the industrial action.

Unfortunately ever since the days of Hills Transit & Tranitplus, the number of split shifts outweighed the straight shifts by a considerable amount. Also the vast majority of the shifts were no more than 6.5 hours at the maximum & there were only a couple of straight shifts that were 8 hours.
Whatever the roster clerk (s) do, it'll always be nigh on impossible to try and reduce the split shifts & increase the straight shifts.

[Lt. Commander Data]

Improving services during the day, later at night, and on weekends would help improve conditions like that. Oh, and not to mention it’s the fastest growing region in the state, and is crying out for more services.

[Merc1107]

Unfortunately ever since the days of Hills Transit & Tranitplus, the number of split shifts outweighed the straight shifts by a considerable amount. Also the vast majority of the shifts were no more than 6.5 hours at the maximum & there were only a couple of straight shifts that were 8 hours.
Whatever the roster clerk (s) do, it'll always be nigh on impossible to try and reduce the split shifts & increase the straight shifts.

There will always be compromises, but it seems there are few in the industry adventurous enough to pursue something a bit different. Nope, much easier to fob off complaints with "that's how we've always done it and it won't change" than look at improving conditions and therefore morale.

For example, with the help of the Union, look at doing school term only, part-time (20-25hrs) splits for those drivers who might be semi-retired or otherwise not need a lot of work. Use the leftover work to lengthen a few duties. Alternatively, breaking the work up into half days would remove the splits but drastically increase the part-timer base (which might not be popular).